The Academy Awards

Entertaining text and star-studded photos present the story of the Academy Awards(, from the beginning in 1927 to the return of the golden age of Hollywood with "Titanic" at the 1998 awards. 700 photos, 60 in color. Movie stills. Original posters.

Updated to include the 2014 Academy Awards, this is the definitive guide to 86 years of the Oscars, including every nominee and winner in every category, plus red carpet highlights, unforgettable photographs, and insider information from onstage and behind the scenes. The Academy Awards invites us to share in the celebration of 86 years of best actors, actresses, directors, cinematographers, costume designers, and more, plus the greatest films in movie-making history. All of the winners and the losers of Hollywood's prestigious award ceremony are covered here in detail, together with all of the glamour and gossip that is the Oscars®. Written by film experts Jim Piazza and Gail Kinn, who are sought out by the media every year for their insider knowledge of movies and Hollywood, The Academy Awards is both a handy reference and a detailed history of the annual event. Organized by year, beginning with the very first awards given in 1927, The Academy Awards presents in each chapter a complete and fun-to-read overview of the ceremony, including highlights of the most memorable moments (and outfits!) of the evening. Piazza and Kinn also provide details and little-known facts about award winners for best picture, best actor and actress, best supporting actor and actress, and honorary awards, plus a complete list of nominees in every category. Packed with more than 500 photographs from the ceremonies and red carpet, as well as stills from the movies themselves, this unauthorized book delivers what fans want most: all the facts, enhanced by juicy commentary and pictures galore.

THE definitive guide to the Academy Awards, from the very first ceremony to this year's 80th anniversary spectacular, includes EVERY nominee and winner in EVERY category?and has been fully updated to include the most recent winners and losers, unforgettable photographs, and highlights. Written by film experts who are sought out every year for their insider knowledge of movies and Hollywood, this book is both a comprehensive reference and a detailed history of the Academy Awards, complete with each year's facts, highlights, and controversies?all told with authority and attitude. Packed with more than 500 photographs from the Oscar ceremonies and red carpet as well as the movies themselves, it outdoes any other book on the market in both information and illustrations. And compared to boring "official" books with less reportage and much less color, this "unauthorized" book delivers what fans want most: ALL the facts, enhanced by juicy commentary and pictures galore. Now in its fourth edition, it?s the most popular, comprehensive, lavishly illustrated, and enjoyable Oscar book out there.

This is the only official history of the Academy Awards and an indispensable addition to any movie buff's library. For the film industry, the Academy Awards is the most celebrated and most significant night of the year: everyone longs for the recognition of being nominated to win a little golden statuette. For most of us, however, even a walk down the red carpet is just a dream. This book puts readers into those iconic plush seats for the thrill of the Academy Awards, from the first show in 1928, shortly after the introduction of the talking picture, to this year's eighty-fifth anniversary. With hundreds of photographs and an informative text by Hollywood insider Robert Osborne, this book chronicles the ceremonies themselves, as well as the accomplishments, trends, developments, and events that occurred, both within the Academy and for the film industry as a whole. Osborne comments on each year's most important films and shares the stories behind them.

Second only to the Super Bowl in audience size and revenue, the Oscars are more than a mere ceremony; they are a phenomenon. Hosted by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for over ninety years, the Oscars have long been considered the pinnacle of fantasy, beauty, romance and high class. They are eagerly anticipated and are heavily discussed. It is only recently that movements such as #OscarsSoWhite have raised awareness around the more complicated legacy of the Oscars and African American participation in film. This timely book draws on American, African American, and film history to reflect on how the Oscars have recognized blacks from the award’s inception to the present. Starting in the 1920s, the chapters provides a thorough analysis and overview of any black actors nominated for their Hollywood roles during each decade. By cross-referencing historical trends with prior winners, readers will be able to see consistent patterns when it comes to black characters in film and ultimately judge whether mainstream race relations has truly changed substantively or only superficially over time. Black Oscars presents never seen before statistical analysis of nominees and winners as evidence for racial trends. All black nominees’ movie characters are analyzed to contextualize the socio-political meaning of such roles and of the black characters as political images onscreen. Black Oscar winners (more of which occur in the latter decades) are highlighted and cross-referenced with other winners. This analysis is grouped by decade, allowing for appreciation of trends and patterns. For over ninety years, Oscar winners have been considered the standard bearers of all things imaginable within American culture. Given the Oscars’ presence and popularity, it begs the question of what do these awards reflect and reinforce about larger society, particularly when it comes to the public participation of African Americans. In the meticulously-researched Black Oscars: From Mammy to Minny, What the Academy Awards Tell Us about African Americans, we see how the Oscars are an indispensable guide to understanding race in mainstream Hollywood.